Tom Brennan - MAJORING ON THE MINORS - 2013 METS DRAFT UPDATE

Tom Brennan – MAJORING ON THE MINORS - 2013 METS DRAFT - HOW ARE THEY DOING?

To quote from the great Yogi Berra, “It gets late early out there.”  These guys mostly just finished their 2^nd year.  Most have not pitched or hit a whole lot.  Mets’’ 1^st round pick Dominic Smith is an exception, having played 177 games in 2 seasons with over 700 plate appearances – and he won’t even turn 20 til mid-June 2015. Met fans, be patient!!

On the other hand, a guy like Cameron Griffin threw very well in 2014, but only has 42 innings in 2 years.  Being Mr. Smith’s senior by 4 years (i.e., he’ll turn 24 next June), he needs to rise fast and not falter to avoid that “well, look how old he is, though” label.  It does get late early for baseball prospects.  The winnowing process is unrelenting.

On that cheery note, let’s turn a gaze at the Mets’ 2013 draft.

27 guys signed, most are doing well or reasonably so, but the guys I see as most promising right now are

Dominic Smith

Casey Meisner

L J Mazzilli

Jared King

Champ Stuart

Jeff McNeil

Luis Guillorme

and Brandon Brosher.

Others who may still surge IMO are Matt Oberste, Colton Plaia, Robert Coles, and youngsters Andrew Church and Ivan Wilson. 

Overall, early indicators are that 2013 was another very solid Sandy Alderson draft.  Time will tell.   Read on, Met fans:

                                                                                                                          

Name	Pos	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB	Rd	Rating	Comments
Dominic Smith	1B	L / L	6' 0"	185	06/15/1995	1	1	Folks may’ve been disappointed with his power in 2014, but leaping from low rookie ball to mid A in one season was a big leap.  In his first long season, during which he turned 19, he had a slow start and finish, but in 3 mid-months, he hit .305.  Big 2015 coming for Smith in my opinion
Andrew Church	RHP	R / R	6' 2"	190	10/07/1994	2	3	In his age 19 season, Church showed progress from mid-July on in K Port. Too early to tell yet for him.  We’ll know much better in 2015 & 2016 (when he’ll only be 21).
Ivan Wilson	CF	R / R	6' 3"	220	05/26/1995	3	3-4	Ivan led his league in HRs – and strikeouts. Latter come at a ghastly pace, so that is goal #1 for Wilson in 2015 – drastically lower the K rate.
Casey Meisner	RHP	R / R	6' 7"	190	05/22/1995	3	2	Very young and tall, finished strong in Bklyn (62 inn, 3.75, 67 Ks, but just 2 earned runs and 24 K’s in 18 inn over last 3 starts).  One to watch.
L.J. Mazzilli	2B	R / R	6' 1"	190	09/06/1990	4	2	He impressed a lot of folks in 2014 He is more than just Mazz’s kid.
Jared King	LF	S / L	5' 11"	200	10/12/1991	5	3	Played his best ball in St Lucie (49 games, .287/.343/.392). A superb  .318/.362/.477 in season’s last mo.
Champ Stuart	CF	R / R	6' 0"	175	10/11/1992	6	3	.251/.359/.345 career, with 40 of 46 steals in 500 + plate appearances.  Mookie Wilson or EY Jr – which will he turn out to be?  Ks out too much (155 times so far), so cut ‘em down!!
Matt Oberste	1B	R / R	6' 2"	220	08/09/1991	7	3	274/.320/.435 in Gnat Land in 2014.
Ricky Knapp	RHP	R / R	6' 1"	195	05/20/1992	8	4	Kind of high on ERA (4.23) & WHIP (1.48) in 2 yrs. Lots of competition, so he’ll have to step it up a lot.
Patrick Biondi	CF	L / R	5' 9"	165	01/09/1991	9	4	41 of 57 steals over 2 seasons, but just .238/.334/.298.  Needs more.
Luis Guillorme	SS	L / R	5' 10"	170	09/27/1994	10	2-3	Highly regarded glove, competitive bat. (.283/.340/.324 in 60 games in 2014.  Briefly played in Savannah!
Tyler Bashlor	RHP	R / R	6' 0"	220	04/16/1993	11	TETT	Rocky 2013, missed 2014.
Jeff McNeil	SS	L / R	6' 1"	165	04/08/1992	12	2-3	Jeff did great in Savannah (.332, 15 steals in 59 games), then slid to .246 in St Lucie after promo in 58 games but strengthened to .266/.354/.353 in Jul/Aug. Think he’ll excel in 2015.
Kevin McGowan	RHP	R / R	6' 6"	215	10/18/1991	13	4	Big dude was fine in Savannah for 10 starts, 5.06 in 10 St Lucie starts. Low K’s in Lucie (30 in 59 innings) portend rough waters ahead.
Colton Plaia	C	R / R	6' 2"	225	09/25/1990	15	3-4	Decent 2014 in Savannah (84 gm, .261/.332/.360). 2015 will be telling.
Zach Mathieu	1B	R / R	6' 7"	265	11/25/1991	16	3-4	In K Port, 17 doubles in 152 at bats in 2014, .270/.358/.441 are good #’s.  53 Ks in 47 games is not good.
Johnny Magliozzi	RHP	R / R	5' 10"	195	07/21/1991	17	TETT	Missed 2014 (not sure why) after 14 high quality relief outings in his lone year in 2013 in Brooklyn.
Brent McMinn	RHP	R / R	6' 2"	195	12/02/1990	18	Released	13 innings in 2 years.
Dan Herrmann	RHP	R / R	6' 4"	205	09/02/1994	20	5	Horrible control (38 BB in 21 inns)
G. Bumgardner	RHP	R / R	6' 6"	210	01/29/1991	23	3-4	With a name almost as long as he is tall, fine relief year in Bklyn (31 innings, 2.30, 1.12 WHIP, 27 ks)
Ricardo Jacquez	RHP	R / R	5' 9"	160	05/06/1993	25	?	Truly nice year in the pen for K Port in 2013, but no 2014.  Status unsure
Robert Coles	RHP	R / R	6' 0"	180	08/20/1991	28	3-4	Similar to Ricky Knapp, great early 2014 in Savannah (11 of 11 saves, 1.95), followed by a 4.62 ERA and 1.86 WHIP in St Lucie.  54 Ks in 53 innings, so let’s see how 2015 goes.
Ryan Chapman	RHP	R / R	6' 3"	215	12/27/1990	33	Retired	One year in 2013; few inn, wild.
Cameron Griffin	RHP	R / R	6' 3"	200	06/25/1991	34	3-4	Great 2014 (0.96 ERA), but he’s only thrown 42 innings in 2 years, so he needs to up the workload.
Ty Williams	RHP	R / R	6' 2"	195	02/21/1994	35	4	Improved in 2014 in K Port in 22 inn.
Brandon Brosher	1B	R / R	6' 3"	225	02/17/1995	36	TETT	Homers in 4 straight early season games, followed immediately by a season ending leg injury.
Paul Paez	LHP	L / L	5' 9"	185	04/29/1992	38	Released	Didn’t do enough in 2014 to continue

 RATING LEVELS:

1 – future impact major leaguer and performing at a high level

2 – future major leaguer – unclear if he will be an impact player

3 – decent shot at making it to the big enchilada in some capacity

4 – long shot to make the majors

5 – extremely long shot to make the majors

TETT – too early to tell – dude has not played enough, or is very young.

So I’ve covered four years of very solid drafts now. (2010 – 2013).

Next up, in the days ahead, my take on the 2014 Mets draft so far.